SBMA Online

Art Matters: View-Master - Novelty and Nostalgia

Thursday, March 14, 20194:30 pm – 6:00 pm

Britt Salvesen, Curator and Head of Photography and Prints and Drawings, LACMA

The View-Master is one of the most familiar, yet least investigated, formats of stereoscopic photography. This talk will outline its history, from its invention and debut at the 1939 New York World’s Fair to its 21st-century reinvention as a virtual reality system. After considering key products and marketing strategies, I will suggest some reasons for the View-Master’s absence from histories of mass visual culture and its enduring popularity among children and collectors alike.